BSEL Library: Teaching Coping Skills using "Felix and the Feelings Formula"

As a professional bridging the gap between behavior science and SEL, I am all about making emotional skills observable, measurable, and explicit. It can be really hard to take coping skills - a skill that comes naturally to some and often takes place internally - and break it down into concrete steps for instruction.

Recently though, I came across a diamond of a book that does just that, and I want to share it with you.

It's called "Felix and the Feelings Formula" by Kate Bartlein. 

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This story follows Felix, a young elementary school student with some signs of neurodivergency and a book of feelings formulas. As readers go through Felix's day, we see Felix encounter feeling after feeling, using his formulas to work through each one individually. Honestly, formula is the perfect word for what this book teaches.

Here's some things I love about it:

1. The book covers a wide range of emotional experiences. Yes, this book tackles difficult emotions like sadness, frustration, nervousness, or fear. But it also addresses those more pleasant emotions that can still overwhelm or confuse students, like curiosity, excitement, compassion, and confidence. It even includes a formula for boredom. The range in this book is outstanding, in my opinion.
2. The "formula" can easily be concretely applied to individual students and other experiences. I'm not here for any spoilers, but let's just say, Felix's formula is a treasure trove of applicable ideas. It's a three step task analysis of sorts  that go from internal behavior to external behavior real fast, making coping skills something easier to teach. 
3. The author and illustrator seamlessly weave in neurodivergent experiences. Felix responds to distractions, changes in schedules, overstimulation from the environment, and interacting with classmates - one of whom uses an AAC device! 

There's a couple things to be aware of if you're going to use this book in the classroom, though. Here's some things to keep in mind:

• Felix is young. Felix is obviously in elementary school, and a young elementary schooler at that. He has recess and talks with "big kids." This book would be best for students in that same K-3 age range. 
• The formulas would be easy to "plug and play" for students, but I advise against that. I suggest using the formula idea (the three steps) to help students create their own formulas that work for them. I think this book would require instruction to be most effective. I don't consider it a "casual read aloud" but rather a book to interact with over time. 

Now that we've talked about the book itself, let's dive into some ways to use it in your classroom!

Teach it as a unit to an individual, small group, or whole group. Using an interactive read aloud format, I would go through one scenario, feeling, and formula at a time. Since the book covers about 10 formulas (personally, I would combine two of them) it could cover about two weeks worth of morning meetings or pull out instruction. You could read a section then have students create their own feelings formula related to the section, discuss what they'd do the same or different compared to Felix, and explicitly teach behaviors you as the teacher will be able to later reinforce.

Use it as a reference book. Take some of those sticky tabs or even just sticky notes and label where each feeling is located within the book. As students encounter and identify these types of feelings (and/or the behaviors associated with them), pull out the book and review what Felix's formula was for that particular emotion. Try the feelings formula together, first in isolation, but eventually in a moment of stress; or decide on their own formula to try instead. 

Create interactive BSEL notebooks. Felix keeps all of his formulas in a notebook that he takes with him everywhere. Students can do this too! This notebook could be built during the unit then added onto over time. Students can also create and experiment with a variety of formulas in their notebooks to find what strategies work best for their minds and bodies. The publisher even offers some accompanying activities that would lend perfectly to this. 

***I was offered a copy of this book for free in exchange for my honest review

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We already know books provide opportunities to teach just about any skill, and that includes behavioral, social, and emotional skills, too! Through character, conflict, and more, BSEL skills can be found on nearly every page. A library of BSEL books gives you endless options to incorporate academics as well. Grab some BSEL books and get teaching!